Eligible assets, investment strategies and investor protection in light of modern portfolio theory: Towards a risk-based approach for UCITS. ECMI Policy Briefs No. 2, 18 September 2006

As the European Commission is currently in the process of preparing its White Paper on the enhancement of the EU framework for investment funds (scheduled for November 2006), now is a good time to reflect on whether the UCITS framework needs a radical overhaul if the regulatory landscape is going to adapt itself to the reality of market evolutions. European Capital Markets Institute (ECMI) Head of Research Jean-Pierre Casey contributes to this important debate with the second ECMI Policy Brief, in which he argues that UCITS ought to move to a risk-based approach as opposed to a reliance on the product approach. Casey concludes that both the product approach, which necessitates defining eligible assets – a laborious exercise – and the investment restrictions which form the other cornerstone of investor protection in UCITS, are outdated and out of sync with the lessons of modern portfolio theory. ECMI is an independent research body specialising in research on capital markets. It is managed by CEPS staff

Why the regulatory witch-hunt for ‘closet trackers’ is a dead-end. CEPS Commentary, 9 December 2014

ESMA, the European watchdog of securities markets, has announced its intention to take a closer look at so-called ‘closet trackers’, with a view to identify whether there is a potential need for a coordinated pan-European policy response to these particular funds, which are supposedly actively managed but in reality closely track their benchmarks. In this commentary, Jean Pierre Casey suggests that more work needs to be done to demonstrate that a market failure exists. He also cautions on some of the difficulties associated with a potential regulatory intervention. In his view, the perceived problem is best tackled through transparency and competition

EU Enlargement: external economic implications. Bruges European Economic Policy (BEEP) Briefing 4/2003

Unlike some previous EU enlargements (e.g. with the UK and with Spain/Portugal) the present EU enlargement to Central Europe has not prompted much, let alone a fierce, debate about the external dimension. This BEEP briefing discusses the main economic aspects of the external dimension, in particular whether there is a threat of (how much) trade diversion. Attention is paid to the three main topics of interest for third countries: industrial trade effects, impact on FDI and agricultural trade effects. Agriculture is arguably the most sensitive of the three, given the very high CAP border protection, and although large-scale trade diversion may eventually occur under certain scenarios (such as an unreformed CAP), these fears are greatly exaggerated in the short to medium term (5-7 years): the time frame considered is therefore all-important. This conclusion becomes less surprising if one takes a closer look at the current sorry state of agriculture in the CEECs. Separate sections treat the somewhat sensitive subject of U.S.-CEEC Bilateral Investment Treaties, as well as the longterm development perspective, which addresses the prospects for catch-up growth by the accession countries. In the end, non-European stakeholders in the accession process will greatly benefit from sustained catch-up growth by the CEECs, which are locking-in deep reforms due to EU accession

Can Europe deliver growth? The SAPIR report and beyond. Bruges European Economic Policy (BEEP) Briefing 6/2004

In this critical appraisal of the SAPIR report of July 2003, we choose not to focus on the economic analysis provided in the Sapir Report - where we largely agree - or the analysis of governance questions and design at the EU level. Rather, we concentrate on the assignment, orientation and policy recommendations of the Report with the following question in mind: to what extent does the Report help to revitalize the growth debate in Europe? Unfortunately, the focus of the Report’s recommendations is entirely on the EU level of policy and governance, whereas the motor of growth is very clearly being hindered at the Member State level. The present authors suggest that a number of coordination processes at the EU level are best regarded as ‘dangerous liaisons’which are not really goal-oriented but instead ingeniously seem to serve to protect the actors’ autonomously-decided positions. The Union is trapped in a low-growth equilibrium due to this deceptive construction and because in many policy areas relevant for growth, the EU cannot act without the explicit consent of the Member States, or it simply cannot act at all. Indeed, given the single market and EMU, Europe can only deliver growth at the Member States' level. We exemplify this point in a number of concrete policy areas

Corporate bond issuance picks up as interest rates set to rise. ECMI Commentary No. 1, 7 December 2005

[From introduction] European corporate bond issuance has picked up significantly in the last month, in anticipation of future interest rate hikes by the European Central Bank. Indeed, the ECB has declared in no uncertain terms that it plans to raise rates in the short term to respond to inflationary pressures. This development has pushed corporate treasurers to take advantage of the last vestiges of the low rate environment by locking in the attractive rates that still allow corporations to borrow cheaply for funding plans. It is worth noting that when the ECB raised rates on 1 December 2005, this was the first increase in more than 7 quarters

“They Love Their Patients”: Client Perceptions of Quality of Postabortion Care in North and South Kivu, the Democratic Republic of the Congo

Background: Postabortion care (PAC) is a lifesaving intervention that, when accessible and of good quality, can prevent the majority of abortion-related deaths. However, these services are only sporadically available and often of poor quality in humanitarian settings. CARE International, the International Rescue Committee, and Save the Children strengthened the Congolese Ministry of Health to provide PAC, including voluntary contraceptive services, in North and South Kivu, DRC. Objective: We aimed to gain understanding of the demographic and clinical characteristics of PAC clients, the experiences of women who sought PAC at supported health facilities, and the women’s perceptions of the quality of care received. We also explored how client perspectives can inform future PAC programming. Methods: A PAC register review extracted sociodemographic and clinical data on all PAC clients during a 12-month period between 2015 and 2016 at 69 supported facilities in 6 health zones. In-depth interviews were conducted between September 2016 and April 2017 with 50 women who sought PAC in the preceding 3 months at supported health facilities. Interviews were recorded, transcribed, and translated into French for analysis. Thematic content analysis was subsequently used as the data analytic approach. Results: In 12 months, 1,769 clients sought PAC at supported facilities; 85.2% were at less than 13 weeks gestation. Over 80% of PAC clients had a uterine evacuation, and of these, 90% were treated with manual vacuum aspiration. The majority (75.2%) of PAC clients chose voluntary postabortion contraception. All but one interview participant reported seeking PAC for a spontaneous abortion, although most also reported their pregnancy was unintended. Clients were mostly made aware that PAC was available by community health workers or other community members. Experiences at the supported facilities were mostly positive, particularly in regards to client-provider interactions. Most women received contraceptive counseling during PAC and selected a modern method of contraception immediately after treatment. However, knowledge about different methods of contraception varied. Nearly all women said that they would advise another woman experiencing abortion complications to seek PAC at a supported health facility. Conclusions: The findings demonstrate the successful implementation of good-quality, respectful PAC in North and South Kivu. Overall, they suggest that the organizations’ support of health workers, including competency-based training and supportive supervision, was successful

First Approaches to Standard protocols and Reference Materials for the Assessment of Potential Hazards Associated with Nanomaterialss

All new technologies have an inherent risk, which is typically assessed alongside the development of applications of the technology. This is also the case for nanotechnology: a key concern in the case of engineered nanomaterials (ENMs) is that due to their very small size, NMs can reach areas such as the cell that are inaccessible to other materials, such as implants and drugs. As a result of their large surface area, NMs may be more reactive than other larger materials. The large physical and chemical variability of NMs, and the fact that small changes can have large consequences, mean that there is insufficient data on which to make safety or risk assessments at present. Thus, a widely supported scientific basis and sufficient high quality data upon which to base regulatory decisions are required urgently. NanoImpactNet (NIN) can support the development and dissemination of such data. This report presents the outcome of the discussions of 60 experts in the field of safety assessment of manufactured NMs from academia, industry, government and non-profit organizations on some of the critical issues pertaining to the development of standard protocols and reference materials for assessment of the potential hazards associated with ENMs. It should be noted here that there was a separate NIN workshop on determining the best metrics for assessing NP safety, and that this workshop was directed specifically to how best to standardise testing protocols and develop reference materials for human health assessment

Коло Марусі Чурай

In this article Marusya Churay*s (a character famous in story and song) life history is researched. On the basis of real events and historical facts the author tells about people who were related to the life of this personality

Host Galaxy Properties and Offset Distributions of Fast Radio Bursts: Implications for Their Progenitors

We present observations and detailed characterizations of five new host galaxies of fast radio bursts (FRBs) discovered with the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP) and localized to ≾ 1". Combining these galaxies with FRB hosts from the literature, we introduce criteria based on the probability of chance coincidence to define a subsample of 10 highly confident associations (at z = 0.03–0.52), 3 of which correspond to known repeating FRBs. Overall, the FRB-host galaxies exhibit a broad, continuous range of color (M_u − M_r = 0.9–2.0), stellar mass (M_★ = 10⁸ − 6 × 10¹⁰ M_⊙), and star formation rate (SFR = 0.05–10 M_⊙ yr⁻¹) spanning the full parameter space occupied by z 99% c.l.). We measure a median offset of 3.3 kpc from the FRB to the estimated center of the host galaxies and compare the host-burst offset distribution and other properties with the distributions of long- and short-duration gamma-ray bursts (LGRBs and SGRBs), core-collapse supernovae (CC-SNe), and SNe Ia. This analysis rules out galaxies hosting LGRBs (faint, star-forming galaxies) as common hosts for FRBs (>95% c.l.). Other transient channels (SGRBs, CC-, and SNe Ia) have host-galaxy properties and offsets consistent with the FRB distributions. All of the data and derived quantities are made publicly available on a dedicated website and repository

Host Galaxy Properties and Offset Distributions of Fast Radio Bursts: Implications for their Progenitors

We present observations and detailed characterizations of five new host galaxies of fast radio bursts (FRBs) discovered with the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP) and localized to $\lesssim 1''$. Combining these galaxies with FRB hosts from the literature, we introduce criteria based on the probability of chance coincidence to define a sub-sample of 10 highly-confident associations (at $z=0.03-0.52$), three of which correspond to known repeating FRBs. Overall, the FRB host galaxies exhibit a broad, continuous range of color ($M_u-M_r = 0.9 - 2.0$), stellar mass ($M_\star = 10^{8} - 6\times 10^{10}\,M_{\odot}$), and star-formation rate (${\rm SFR} = 0.05 - 10\,M_{\odot}\,{\rm yr}^{-1}$) spanning the full parameter space occupied by $z<0.5$ galaxies. However, they do not track the color-magnitude, SFR-$M_\star$, nor BPT diagrams of field galaxies surveyed at similar redshifts. There is an excess of "green valley" galaxies and an excess of emission-line ratios indicative of a harder radiation field than that generated by star-formation alone. From the observed stellar mass distribution, we rule out the hypothesis that FRBs strictly track stellar mass in galaxies ($>99\%$ c.l.). We measure a median offset of 3.3 kpc from the FRB to the estimated center of the host galaxies and compare the host-burst offset distribution and other properties with the distributions of long- and short-duration gamma-ray bursts (LGRBs and SGRBs), core-collapse supernovae (CC-SNe), and Type Ia SNe. This analysis rules out galaxies hosting LGRBs (faint, star-forming galaxies) as common hosts for FRBs ($>95\%$ c.l.). Other transient channels (SGRBs, CC- and Type Ia SNe) have host galaxy properties and offsets consistent with the FRB distributions. All of the data and derived quantities are made publicly available on a dedicated website and repository.Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ. All data are publicly available at https://frbhosts.org and https://github.com/FRBs/FRB. Version 2 of manuscript includes updated FRB uncertainty estimate